I think they handle sail power on the wave very well. At least as well as an EVO in the bottom turn and in the top turn actually better. With EVOs, you have to pay some attention to how to set up the top turn to engage properly and not bounce or slide and this gets difficult when you are really powered up. With the Quads, the top board will stick to the top turn no matter what. So if you're just reasonably balanced it will work great.

Regarding Q81 or Q76 I can say that I have both (as well as 71 and 66) and I do a fair bit of light wind too. But I'm gonna keep the 76 because I feel its just a better fit to my weight. So at least for me the 76 feels perfect even in light winds (and then I don't even have to consider the high wind end since I have smaller boards for that). Even with the 81 in my quiver I havent taken it out for some time now even in the lightest of days. A set of 16cm front fins will give the 76 even more drive for the lightest days and biggest sails.

But if you still feel you want the extra "pop" and floatier feel of the 81 it will still build a good quiver with the EVO 70. You'll be well into the sweet spot of the E70 before the Q81 shows signs of being to big. And if you're a tinkerer you might even trick your old EVO 70 up with a quad fin setup. The shape is practically the same as the Quad 71.

17th September 2009 01:19 PM

Unregistered

Nice photos. Thanks for the advice.I suppose the obvious option is to replace the 85 with an 80 quad for 5.7 to under powered 5.3 ( 70% of my sailing) and keep the 70l evo for powered 5.3 and down.That covers wind range fine but I've always found the 85 board a bit of a handful in good DTL head and over waves and often prefer to sail with the smaller board even in the lighter winds for ease of riding especially when cross off.

How do the quads handle being overpowered on the wave?

17th September 2009 05:41 AM

Ola_H

Here is another 5.5 pic that I think even better illustrates what the Quads can do for you in light wind. This one is sub planing 5.5 and also small, slow and barely breaking waves. Yet, I think the picture kind of tells that the Quads (in this case the 76) enables you to generate speed while bottom turning and then also to power up the top turn, despite that neither wind nor waves are really playing.

16th September 2009 06:31 PM

Ola_H

Yes it might be possible. But in the end, it's not easy (probably impossible) to get teh same range out of one boards as you get out of the 70+85l combo. So expect to give up a bit of comfort at both ends.

That said, the Q76 do handle a 5.7 sail as Ray writes. It becomes a bit more difficult to get planing early, ie you must in the usual way take more care not to load up the fins before you're up to speed. But it works. A set of 16cm front fins make it even better (they are a bit stiffer not only bigger). Underpowered 5.3 is no worries at all though. Perfect Sweets Spot for this board.

Here's the Q76 doing its thing in underpowered 5.5:
4.2 is OK too. It gets hectic when you ride the wave, especially if you're at the same time overpowered. But 4.2 winds is still not enough to blow the Q76 out of the water, I reckon. I'm your weight almost exactly btw.

16th September 2009 01:49 PM

Ray Timm

At your weight I'll say definitely. I'm 83 kg and I've sailed my Q76 with a 5.7 in relatively light conditions, 14-16 knots. The 5.7 seems a bit big, but it works for me. As soon it is hitting 17-18 knots I'm able to switch to my 5.3.

16th September 2009 12:10 PM

Unregistered

Quad 76 versatility

I understand that a quad 76 has good light wind capability partially due to it's width.Can I ( 72kg) use it with a 5.7 on the lighter days ( 13-17 knots)? In general it would get used with a 5.3 or the 5.7 and sometimes 4.7, rarely 4.2 and almost always in side to cross off conditions.

I also have a 2007 70l Evo which is great but is too small for underpowered 5.3 and 5.7.

Could I get away with just the Q76 for everything from 4.5- 5.7?I have an 85 l 56cm wide single for the lighter wind days. Back to one board would be great.